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Al Anbar Province Turned Over to Iraqi Control

With all the hullabaloo going on this weekend concerning our very own Right-Wing nutjob, Absentee’s amazing video: The Gov. Palin VP selection and the asinine attacks from the left who are quaking in their boots about it; and of course that little soirée up in Minneapolis, it turns out that the progress in Iraq is moving along unabated.

Iraqi civilian authorities today assumed responsibility for security in Iraq’s Anbar province, where Iraqi forces will now have the lead in security operations, President Bush said in a statement released by the White House. “Today, Anbar is no longer lost to al Qaeda – it is al Qaeda that lost Anbar. Iraqis – like countless other Muslims across the world – witnessed al Qaeda’s brutality first-hand and rejected it,” Bush said. “As a result, Anbar has been transformed and reclaimed by the Iraqi people.” –DOD

Recall that Anbar Province is the home to Ramadi and Fallujah where the US forces suffered substantial losses, over 175 killed and 700 wounded (IHTSeptember 10, 2007 – Democrat Presidential Candidate Barack Obama (D-IL) – “Changing the definition of success to stay the course with the wrong policy is the wrong course for our troops and our national security. The time to end the surge and to start bringing our troops home is now _ not six months from now.” – Fox News

And lastly, from our esteemed Democrat Presidential candidates’ own pen, an op-ed:

Five years after Iraq war vote, we’re still foolishly rattling our sabersThursday, Oct. 11, 2007 – Union Leader…the Senate’s vote to authorize an open-ended war in Iraq, we should resolve to never repeat the terrible mistake of launching a misguided war. But unfortunately, the Senate risked doing exactly that when it recently opened the door to an extension and escalation of the ongoing war in Iraq to include military action against Iran.There is no doubt that Iran poses a threat. It has armed terrorists beyond its borders, maintains an illicit nuclear program, and its leaders have issued belligerent threats that are a concern to us all. But our first and most important avenue to contain Iranian aggression is to try the tough and direct diplomacy that the Bush administration has too often disdained.In choosing their next President, the American people need to look at the judgments each of the candidates has made on war in the past, and at who has clearly learned the lessons of this disastrous war going forward. This is not a debate about 2002; it’s about the future, and in that debate I can run on, and not from, my record.

On that note, I proudly announce that our President and military commanders have indeed taken the fight to the enemy and is winning. No matter how much the Democrats would prefer we not.